Category Archives: For Business

1. More than 70% of the consumers using MCR come from online searches for movers in their city

This means every consumer using MCR to submit quotes is in “moving mode”. They’ve done their homework, and decided to use our site to find moving services. Our free business listings appear in online searches to attract these active consumers and drive them to MCR.

Movers may list their company in our national database for free. Our default search results are based on location, number of reviews and overall star rating.

On MCR, consumers choose the movers they want to hear from. Movers get free leads when consumers choose them.

We’ll also suggest qualified movers as part of our pay-per-lead program. This gives movers access to every lead in their service area.

3. We partner with Homefinder.com to provide home details

We standardize addresses and whenever possible, we match them with public records via HomeFinder.com to pre-populate beds, baths, square footage and home type in order to give movers more accurate information.

4. Consumers understand your brand every step of the way

Keep your brand and online reviews in front of consumers by replying directly to the quote request email. When a consumer selects your company to provide a free quote, they’ve already provided basic move details and and are ready to chat.

Make it personal, be sure to mention your required next steps (in-home estimate etc.) or price to help the consumer make a decision. Try to address any specific needs the consumer may have mentioned in their notes.

Be sure to keep your profile and online reviews up to date. Having great reviews and a high overall rating is a great way to stand out from your competition.

5. We reward consumers on their move-in day

On move-in day, we offer every consumer the opportunity to get a FREE Pizza if they come back and review their move on MCR.

We also have a program to collect reviews from your past customers, helping you focus on moves while we focus on your online reputation. Learn more about Review Advantage.

As Shannon wrote in “Behind the scenes at MCR: Our chatroom” we use our chat room for just about everything. It is one of the most used tools in our business. It’s obviously a great communication tool, but it’s a huge productivity tool for us as well.

We deployed our own customized version of a chat room robot forked from the Hubot Project. GitHub describes Hubot as “A Customizable, Life Embetterment Robot”, and we’ve certainly found our lives to be embettered! Hubot is an open source project written in CoffeeScript on Node.js and in our case runs on Heroku. The first thing we had to do after forking the Hubot project was to give our robot a name. We named ours “Review Bot”, or “Rbot” for short. Then we put him to work on a variety of tasks. The best part is since he’s a robot we don’t have to put him on the payroll… HE WORKS FOR FREE!

So what does Rbot do for us? He helps us with project management, customer assistance, and even monitoring our production web applications. Need some help with that math homework? Rbot has you covered, he’s great with numbers. All we have to do is ask “Rbot calculate 1+100″ or “Rbot calculate sqrt(81)”

We’re a small team, but it’s still easy to lose track of what everyone is up to. Not to worry, Rbot keeps track of all that for us. We just have to tell him “Rbot I am working on ticket #1234″ or “Rbot I am working on lead reports for invoices” and he now knows what we’re up to. At any point a project manager or anyone on the team can simply ask “Rbot what is everyone working on” and get a quick summary.

Rbot helps keep the software development process flowing so that we can continue to add great features to movingcompanyreviews.com. We use a continuous integration tool to automatically run tests on all of our software as we push out changes. Rbot keeps an eye on this of course, and can tell us if the build is passing or failing. We just have to ask Rbot “what’s the mcr project status”. He also monitors the Heroku platform that we run the site on. If we need to deploy some code changes we can ensure all systems are a go with a quick check-in with Rbot – “Rbot heroku status”

The business and operation folks are friends with Rbot as well. Account managers can get a quick sense of how many leads we’ve delivered to a mover just by asking Rbot “Rbot location rfqs for 12345″. We reward our users for reviewing their movers via phone with Domino’s gift cards, and we use a third-party vendor for fulfillment. We wouldn’t want our account to dry up and not be able to give away pizza, so we ask Rbot to check our balance from time to time “Rbot what is our tango card balance?”. Product people can get a conversion report on how users progress through our review process from requesting a quote to receiving that free pizza just by asking “Rbot pizza funnel”.

Rbot isn’t all business, he has a fun side to him as well. He’s super friendly and is the first to greet everyone as they start work in the morning. He doesn’t sleep (he’s a robot remember) so he’s always online. We like to celebrate our wins at movingcompanyreviews.com and Rbot certainly gets in on the action. He fires off a cannon when we get a new sale, sends out a round of applause when a mover gets their first request for a moving quote, and gives a salute from the original tough guy Chuck Norris when anyone says thumbs up.

Having a rough day? Rbot to the rescue! Just ask him “Rbot I need some advice”. Maybe you need to predict the future? Rbot will give you an answer to any question like the classic magic 8-ball “Rbot eightball will we hit our sales goals for the quarter?”. This one has come in handy many times when preparing boardroom presentations!

We have a great office at movingcompanyreviews.com and homefinder.com. One of the perks of being in the office is our ultra-modern kitchen, complete with a double-handled beer tap! After a long work week it’s nice to unwind with co-workers over a beer. But what’s going to fill your glass when you pull on that tap handle? Rbot knows, we just have to ask “Rbot what’s on tap?”

Our omnipresent robot friend has been an awesome addition to the MCR team. Rbot keeps us informed and entertained, and he’s always learning new tricks. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know him.

Moving from MI to NYC

The challenge

Our colleague, Jen, is moving from Michigan to NYC in a few weeks. Naturally, she came to the MCR team to guide her in planning her move. In addition to advising her to use MCR, our best piece of advice: get estimates NOW! Jen will be moving in mid April so we told her she’d have a better shot at getting what she wanted if she started planning asap.

Scheduling

Jen submitted a quote request via MCR and was contacted within minutes by a major van line. The call center rep conveniently scheduled two in-home estimates with two different agents – Agent 1 and Agent 2- within an hour of one another. “Great!” Jen thought, “I’ll have this part done in a day.” As the date approached, Agent 1 contacted her to confirm their appointment but Agent 2did not. When Jen contacted Agent 2 directly, they said they often have scheduling issues with the call center and they’d need to set up an alternate time. So much for the two-birds-with-one-stone approach. By this point, Jen was frustrated: “Goodbye Agent 2!”

Comparing costs

Agent 1′s in-home visit went well and the surveyor provided her with a detailed inventory and simple written estimate. They gave her two options: (1) transportation in a moving truck with other people’s belongings, with delivery date within a 2 week window (2) transportation and delivery via a crate on a truck with a guaranteed delivery date. Here’s a summary of the 1st version:

Quote from Agent 1

But she needed more options. After contacting one portable storage container company by phone (and waiting on hold for way too long), and submitting an online estimate for another, she discovered it would actually cost LESS to move with Agent 1. The portable storage container company - Company 3 – provided her a detailed breakdown like this:

Estimate from Portable Storage Container Company

More scheduling

Jen knew she needed another quote from a moving company in order to make an educated decision. After performing a search in her area on MCR, she submitted a quote request to a Michigan mover, Agent 4, who contacted her promptly. However, he admitted she’d pay for travel time because he wasn’t nearby. He referred her to Agent 5. This mover also came to Jen’s house for an in-home estimate.

The decision

Like Agent 1, Agent 5 offered two options: (1) Shared truck transportation with a 2 week delivery window (Agent 5 cost $75 less than Agent 1) and (2) a portable crate with guaranteed delivery date (Agent 5 cost $700 LESS than Agent 1). In the end, she based her decision on convenience and price and chose Agent 5. Although Agent 1 had better customer service, she liked the guaranteed delivery date with the crate option and the $700 cost savings sealed the deal.

Takeaways for movers

So why does this matter to you? Here are our top takeaways from Jen’s experience:

1. Closing a lead begins the moment you pick up the phone

Call immediately

Make scheduling as easy as possible: Provide flexibility, confirm appointments and show up on time

Putting someone on hold or having to follow up multiple times can be deal-breakers

2. Cost and convenience go hand in hand

In the end, Jen chose the more expensive option from Agent 5 but the less expensive option compared to Agent 1 (despite preferring Agent 1′s professionalism and demeanor). Making people comfortable and offering options to respect their busy schedules is key in their decision.

3. There’s a long way to go…

The diagram below shows all the steps Jen took to find and book her mover. How can we as an industry improve this? Share your thoughts below! And stay tuned for the story of Jen’s actual move.

With 85 percent of consumers searching online for local businesses, getting found and standing out is more important than ever. But how do you compete without endless resources or a bottomless marketing budget?

With a little time and some creativity, you can get your business noticed without breaking the bank (or spending all your downtime on marketing distractions.)

Build Credibility and Trust With Online Reviews

According to SearchEngineLand.com, 7 out of 10 consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Be sure to actively monitor reviews about your company, take the feedback seriously and incorporate it back into your business.

Pro Tips:

Inspire rave reviews by doing an amazing job.

Make it easy for customers to review you by keeping the process short, simple and timely (while the experience is fresh in their mind).

Never review yourself or your competitors.

If you do get a negative review, take the high road, stay professional and respond privately and publicly (when appropriate).

Remember, it’s not about what one person says, but rather how you as a business respond and resolve issues.

Get Listed Online So You’re Easier To Find

Make it simple for new customers to discover you by optimizing your listings and citations on the web. A citation is simply a mention of your business name, along with your contact info, address or website (think Google+ or MovingCompanyReviews.com).

Pro Tips:

Start by identifying where your listed (and not!) and making sure all your info is consistent and up to date: business name, website, phone number, address etc.

There are dozens of free listing sites. Ask prospects and customers how they found you and prioritize for your best referral sources.

Look up your competitors to see where they’re present, and where you might be missing out on opportunities.

It takes time to claim and update your relevant listings. But it’s time well spent. You’ll not only be more visible online (in all the different ways potential customers may find you), but you’ll also rank better in local searches.

Turn Your Assets Into Great Content

Content marketing is a powerful tactic to differentiate your business by establishing trust and authority. You can turn nearly every aspect of your business into shareable content.

Here are a few ideas to convert your crew, your experience and your customers into awesome content.

Take pics or video of your team being the best at what they do (i.e. piano moving, packing dishware etc.).

Create mini-bios or profiles of your move crew so prospects feel they “know” who will be in their home.

Develop how tos, FAQs or tutorial content with consumer tips for a happy move.

It’s now easier than ever to share your MCR reviews on Twitter. Here’s how to tweet a review:

Go to your profile on the site. (You can access from your dashboard, or just perform a search in your area). Then click on your listing and look for the Tweet button next to the review you want to post.

Tweet button on a mover review

Log in to your Twitter account and post. That’s it.

Log in to Twitter to share

Nothing’s more powerful than praise from your past customers. So go on and get Tweeting!

Every now and then we like to share a peek at how we do things here at MCR. There’s an important key to keeping the business running smoothly (and why we all look so happy and friendly in our pictures) . It’s our chat room. We use a tool called HipChat for Instant Messaging (IM) and the team shares a room for everything MCR-related. But it’s more than just IM. It give us information, it helps our remote workers feel like they’re here in the office (hello Brock in Minneapolis or Dave with twins at home or Denzell with his new comfy apartment!), it makes us laugh and it helps keep everyone up to date on some of our most important metrics.

Here are just a few examples of how we use our chat room every day:

Canons go off to celebrate when we have a new sale:

A new sale

Someone – often The Rock – applauds when a mover receives their first quote from MCR:

Mover receives their first MCR Referral (quote request)

We quickly access information, like moving licensing requirements for a certain state:

State license lookup

Our developers share new features with the team when they’re ready to review:

Deployment Notification

We see every time a new move is created and which movers the consumer selected. Through these notifications, we know which days are busiest, which cities are on the rise and how far ahead people plan (not much). Most of all, it helps keep our consumers “real” and remind us that we’re helping people plan one of the most important and stressful events of their lives.

A consumer created a move on MCR

And we have a little fun:

Heading home for the day (mic drop)

Caffeine

Ok, a lot of fun and silliness:

Silliness

As we continue to grow with more consumers visiting our site and creating moves, and more mover customers working with us to grow their business, we’ll keep looking for ways to use our chatroom to keep everyone on the team in touch with the business and our people.

It’s been an exciting year here at MovingCompanyReviews (MCR)! Nearly two years ago, we started MCR to give consumers a better option for planning their moves, and to help great movers grow their business. In 2014, we grew our traffic exponentially, added hundreds of new verified reviews to the site, and generated thousands of free move referrals in what was the busiest move season in years. We also introduced our first paid mover product offering, Suggested Mover. We’ve been thrilled with the results and feedback we’ve gotten so far from our loyal mover customers. Please keep that feedback coming. We have lots more exciting stuff in the works for the coming year. Cheers to a great 2014 and an even bigger and better 2015.

We get it. Winter is here and with more holidays around the corner, it’s tough to book jobs.

The good news: People still need to move. We know because every day they’re requesting quotes from great movers like you on our site.

The even better news:In select markets*, we’re offering an exclusive cash back rebate, called “MCR Moving Deal,” to encourage consumers to book a mover from their MCR quote request. The rebate is paid and managed by MCR.

MCR Move Deal

What do you need to do?

Nothing! If someone contacts you about our rebate, confirm with them that MCR sends the check after the move and send other inquiries to support@movingcompanyreviews.com.

How does it work?

Consumers request a quote from the mover(s) of their choice on MCR.

If eligible, we email consumers the rebate offer encouraging them to book with a mover from their quote request. The Rebate Offer: Pay $25 and receive $75 cash back from MCR for booking and reviewing a participating mover.

After the move, when the consumer reviews their mover on MCR and we verify it with their Bill of Lading, we’ll send them $75.

The rebate is paid by us and does not indicate a discount on your services. It’s our way of thanking consumers for sharing their experience, while helping you book more jobs and get more reviews.

A consumer needs a moving company in your market. They come to MCR to research movers and request estimates. But instead of selecting you, they select your competitor. Maybe you don’t have quite as many reviews as they do or you’re listed a bit further down the page. Either way, you miss out on the opportunity to bid on and win that job.

Introducing Suggested Mover, a new paid offering from MCR that suggests your moving company to consumers browsing MCR.

Let MCR suggest your company to consumers

You’ll always receive free Referrals on MCR when consumers choose you. But with Suggested Mover, you’ll receive increased visibility and the opportunity to provide estimates to more consumers. We’ll even show you which Referrals came from Suggested Mover placements.

Referrals from Suggested Mover will be highlighted in your dashboard.

Here’s more info about the offering. Shoot Denzell a call or email if you’d like to find out more: dwilliams@movingcompanyreviews.com / 312-605-9934.